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12/02/2013

Capsule Reviews: 'A Place at the Table', 'Kiss of the Damned', 'Monsters University'

More reports from the screener pile:

A Place at the Table

(USA, 84 min.)

Dir. Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush

Jeff Bridges in A Place at the Table, a Magnolia Pictures release.
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

The people (re: Executive Producers) who brought you the
Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc.
have put America’s fraught diet on the menu once again, but it’s disappointing
to report that they’re serving a microwaved meal. The new doc explores the
growing percentage of America’s population that is going hungrier day by day. If
Food, Inc. offers a scathing and
thoroughly objective deconstruction of the unappetizing fact that it is cheaper
to eat poorly than it is to eat healthy in America, then A Place at the Table conveys a similar point only without the
flavour that had the taste buds of doc fans tingling on all sides of the
tongue.

The imbalance of dietary economics and the backwards logic
behind the subsidization of resources that create processed junk food, rather
than healthy fruits and veggies, has in part accelerated the size of hungry
Americans to the size of the obese American stereotype. The fat American with a
Big Mac in one hand and a Big Gulp in the other is a complementary part of the
same pandemic noted by directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush. The
roster of talking heads in A Place at the
Table explain how many Americans are simply forced to consume fatty foods
in order to curb hunger because the systems in place to feed the needy can’t
afford to feed them properly. An apple a day becomes an apple fritter a day. An
apple a week becomes a luxury.

A Place at the Table
makes an admirable and emotionally compelling point that feeding the needy
properly today is the best plan for tomorrow. The only thing new in this food
flick, though, is a hearty appearance by Jeff Bridges, who is a strong advocate
for curbing America’s hunger problem, and a cool score by T-Bone Burnett with
songs by The Civil Wars, which makes A
Place at the Table a bit hipper than most conventional docs. The film
doesn’t really offer anything new in terms of nutritional, economical, or
political information, since more or less everything in the film was touched
upon in Food, Inc. or other (superior)
sources. Ironically, though, this doc might leave viewers hungry for more.

Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)

A Place at the Table is now available on home video.

Kiss of the Damned

(USA, 97 min.)

Written and directed by Xan Cassavetes

Starring:
Joséphine de La Baume, Milo Ventimiglia, Roxane Mesquida

Joséphine de la Baume in KISS OF THE DAMNED, a Magnet Release.
Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

Why are vampires considered sexy? The undead have no pulse, yet they
send blood running to the loins of horror fans, HBO nuts, and teen lit readers
in alarming quantities. Vampires have been eroticized ever since they first
sucked blood with big screen passion, and one filmmaker after another has made
the generic element more literal than the last. Kiss of the Damned is a laughable redux of vampiric eroticism that
should have been labelled “For your [Razzie] consideration.” Blargh.

Look no further than Kiss of the Damned for proof that
vampire films have exhausted their full potential. It’s time that the night
crawlers exited the cinema and disintegrated in the sunlight like Hobbitons
emerging from nine hours of excruciating darkness and Peter Jackson movies.
There’s nothing new to be seen here and everything that is done in Kiss of the Damned has been done both ad
nauseam and better before. This story of undying love between a female vampire
(Joséphine de La Baume) and a male human (Milo Ventimiglia) is so
underdeveloped and unconvincing that the film feels like a half-baked exercise
in genre.

Kiss of the Damned is the feature directorial debut of Xan
Cassavetes, the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker John Cassavetes and sister of
budding indie darling Zoe Cassavetes (Broken
English). Xan certainly has potential, since Kiss of the Damned is aesthetically pleasing. It’s a turgid piece
of cinema otherwise, though, and a ludicrous revamp of the sex and blood
sucking.

Vampires grow fangs during ecstasy.
They bite when they orgasm. “True love never dies,” and all that.

A stake through the screener pile.

Rating: ★½ (out of ★★★★★)

Kiss of the Damned is in some kind of unfortunate
release or another.

***Note: It occurred to me after making a note whilst writing about The Croods that I had received a
screener of 12 Years a Slave, but had
already reviewed it. I realize that there is a healthy stack of films I
received in the mail that I reviewed during festivals. Hot Docs favourites like
Muscle Shoals andBlackfish are in the pile—I hope to revisit them again—as are
other goodies like A Hijacking,Shadow Dancer, Prince Avalanche, The Place Beyond the Pines. A copy of The Hunt
came as well, which I’ve vowed to revisit on the urging of several
readers/tweeps. More updates to come: the stack is growing shorter!

Added 7/12/2013

Monsters University

(USA, 104 min.)

Dir. Dan Scanlon Writ. Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan
Scanlon

Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Helen Mirren, Steve
Buscemi

Remember when Pixar used to avoid sequels? Visual
storytelling seems to have taken a step back if The Croods can pass for animated cinema that is original and
entertaining enough to earn a passing grade alongside the likes of Monsters University. Monsters University, which probably needs a possessive apostrophe
somewhere in its title, plays as if the great CGI powerhouse of
Disney-Pixar is now just churning out movies on autopilot.

Helen Mirren is a
welcome addition to the amiable voice team of John Goodman and Billy Crystal,
and kids are bound to enjoy this mildly amusing lark even if mom and dad will
wish they popped in Monsters, Inc. instead.
There’s nothing especially bad about MU,
but it’s a case of rinse and repeat in which the story isn’t original or
engaging enough to merit a recommendation for the impressive, if familiar,
animation alone.